Geraldine Hendricks

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX— Geraldine          (Jerry) Doris Hendricks passed away Dec. 12, 2018 two weeks after the loss of her husband of sixty-seven years.
She was born June 11, 1934 to Robert Charles and Marie Catherine (Burghorn) Rose in Grand Rapids, MI. Her family moved to Chicago when she was six and she fell in love with Chicago, a love that never diminished. When she was twelve her family moved to Texas where her parents began an antique business and upholstery shop
She committed her life to Christ at the age of fourteen and met her future husband the night she and her two brothers were baptized at Ebony Acres Baptist Church. After meeting Jerry, George's ten year old brother said he thought George was the luckiest man in the world.
On June 29, 1951 she married George Andrew Hendricks. For the next fifty-four years George and Jerry served the Lord side by side, George preaching and Jerry playing the piano. In 1955 they followed the Lord’s call to northern Illinois with three small children, the youngest only three weeks old.
One winter she had to play the piano in gloves because it was so cold in the church. She shared her love of the Lord and her love of music with her family, her church, and her community. She went to work to ensure all her children could have music lessons.
She retired from Reed Custer High School in 1989 after 24 years of teaching art and English. She graduated from University of Corpus Christi in 1968 with a degree in English.   She chose English because she loved to read. To share that love, she was an original co-founder of the library in Braidwood; she wrote and directed church Christmas pageants and junior high dramas including Macbeth; and she read Tolkien to her students. Besides reading, she loved painting, antiquing, attending classical concerts, and writing.
In 2013 she and her husband moved from their beloved home in Illinois to be with their daughters in Mississippi before returning to Corpus Christi in 2016 where their three sons cared for them until their deaths.
She is survived by her children: Robert Andrew Hendricks, of Corpus Christi, TX; Katherine Anne Walters (George), of Atlanta, GA; John David Hendricks (Claudia), of Corpus Christi, TX; Cynthia Rose Ewoldt (Matthew), of Reedville, VA; Faith Elizabeth Nance (Jerry), of Gulfport, MS; and Richard John Jackson, of Corpus Christi, TX. She is also survived by her brother, Robert Thomas Rose, of the Dominican Republic; seven grandchildren; two step-grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and three step-great-grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held on Dec. 15, 2018 at 2 p.m. in the chapel of First Baptist Church of Corpus Christi, 3115 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi, 78404; the interment will follow at Rose Hill Cemetery.
Instead of flowers, the family requests that donations be made either to the Dr. Jerry N. and Lynne O. Barlow - Bivocational Scholarship at NOBTS, Office for Institutional Advancement, 3939 Gentilly Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70126 or to the Gideons International at www.sendtheword.org